Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Jerome says he was not a has-been, but a never-was, until AA gave him a design for living that took him from Skid Row and institutions to sobriety, family, education, and useful work.
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Jerome shares a vivid AA talk about growing up in South Central L.A., taking his first drink before a high school record hop in the summer of 1962, and discovering that alcohol seemed to make him able to act, perform, and stop caring what anyone thought. That first drink became a long collapse through homelessness, hospitals, arrests, mental health treatment, Camarillo State Hospital, and repeated attempts to explain away what alcohol kept doing to his life. On June 6, 1973, after one more jail cell and one more broken return home, Jerome walked into an AA clubhouse at 9604 South Figueroa and finally listened like only the dying can hear. In this talk, he tells how no-nonsense AA people, sponsorship, faith in action, work, school, fatherhood, forgiveness, and the simple design for living in Alcoholics Anonymous helped him become the man a psychiatrist once said he could never be.
Jerome S. from Corona, California Speaking at the Santa Barbara AA Convention, September 23, 2000Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

In Part 3 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie walk through Bill’s Story as the first full example of alcoholism, identification, and recovery in the Big Book.
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In this session, Joe and Charlie show why Bill’s Story comes so early in Alcoholics Anonymous: not as biography alone, but as identification. They trace Bill W. from early success, ambition, Wall Street, drinking in the jazz places, and the crash of 1929 into the progression of alcoholism - when drinking stopped being exciting and became necessary. They connect Bill’s repeated failures to stay stopped with Dr. Silkworth’s explanation from The Doctor’s Opinion, then follow the turning point: Ebby’s visit, the simple religious idea, the practical Oxford Group actions, and Bill’s sudden spiritual experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934. By the end, Joe and Charlie make the central point clear: Bill did not just learn about alcoholism, he had old ideas replaced with new ones, and almost immediately began thinking about how to help other alcoholics. Bill’s Story becomes the bridge from powerlessness to hope, and from hope to a design for living that works in rough going.
Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 3: "Bill's Story"
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In Part 2 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie explain why The Doctor’s Opinion is one of the keys to understanding alcoholism itself.
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In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through Dr. Silkworth’s explanation of alcoholism: the body that reacts differently to alcohol, the physical craving that starts after the first drink, and the mind that eventually forgets the consequences and reaches for alcohol again. They break down the difference between craving and obsession, why the word “allergy” confused so many alcoholics, and why the Big Book says the body of the alcoholic is as abnormal as the mind. By the end, they connect The Doctor’s Opinion directly to Step One: if we cannot safely drink because of the body, and we cannot stay stopped because of the mind, then we are powerless over alcohol. They also point toward the answer: the psychic change produced through the Twelve Steps, where peace of mind, serenity, and usefulness begin to replace the restless, irritable, and discontented condition that once drove the first drink
Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 2: "The Doctor’s Opinion"
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In honor of AA’s 91st Founders’ Day, we’re sharing the legendary Joe & Charlie Big Book workshops in order, from AA history through the Steps, over the next 10 days.
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In Part 1, Joe and Charlie begin with the history behind Alcoholics Anonymous and the Big Book, starting from the Foreword to the Second Edition and the first AA group in Akron, Ohio in June 1935. They walk through Bill W., Dr. Bob, Ebby Thacher, Dr. Silkworth, the Oxford Groups, the early shape of the program, and why understanding the history makes the book easier to understand. This opening session sets up the pattern they return to throughout the workshop: what the problem is, what the solution is, and the practical program of action that carries the message
Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 1: "AA History"
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Geoff says his first sponsor warned him that until he shook hands with the real version of himself, he would be working the program on the wrong guy.
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Geoff walked into Alcoholics Anonymous on Christmas Day in 1978 after years of jail, drinking, using, fear, and desperation. In this AA talk, he shares the sponsor who almost refused to work with him, the inventories that forced him to meet the real Geoff, and the life that opened up when he began doing the work. He also talks honestly about drifting away after years sober, building a big life with a tiny program, relapsing before his 20th AA birthday, and coming back with no days. What follows is a moving story about sponsorship, service, prayer, prison panels, spiritual experience, and the discovery that God was never found alone, but in the spaces between one alcoholic and another.
Geoff C. from Valley Village, CA speaking at the Third Tradition speaker meeting in Studio City, CA - November 14th 2007
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

Chris used to know exactly where the serious AA people were, and he knew exactly how to avoid them. When he finally meant business, those “fanatics” were the ones he went looking for.
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Chris, sober since November 19, 1998, shares how drinking took him from a 14-year-old waking up in a sand trap after 11 beers to school trouble, DUIs, work camps, prison, parole violations, detox, and finally the Okaloosa County Jail facing years behind bars. He talks about hearing the AA message long before he was ready, keeping it in his back pocket for “if it ever gets bad enough,” and finally reaching the point where there was no door number three. This is a rough, funny, gratitude-filled AA talk about singleness of purpose, strong sponsorship, a serious home group, following directions, doing the steps, carrying the message into detox and corrections, and finding out that the people he once dismissed as losers and fanatics were exactly the people who could help save his life.
Chris S. from Ft. Walton Beach, FL speaking at the 17th Annual Southeast Louisiana Spring Roundup in Covington, LA - May 27th 2006
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

Scott could fly supersonic jets, but he could not outfly alcoholism. By the time AA found him, the dream job, the willpower, and the John Wayne act had all stopped working.
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Scott, sober since June 28, 1984, shares a funny and deeply serious AA talk about drinking as a young Air Force pilot, flying high-performance aircraft with hangovers, losing the greatest job he ever had, and finally landing in treatment outside Atlanta. He talks about the “John Wayne syndrome,” the first drink that made him feel tall enough and smart enough, the treatment-center moment where he cried out for forgiveness, and the unanswerable question that made him realize he did not know how to keep himself sober. From there, Scott gets into the Big Book, sponsorship by assignment, the difference between fellowship and program, jail and prison service, fourth-step forgiveness, family pain, and the kind of spiritual life that lets him say his wager is too high to treat recovery like a buffet.
Scott L. from Nashville, TN speaking at Maryland State Convention in Hagerstown, MD - June 13th 2002
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

Chris says treatment was only the discovery that a solution existed. The real change came when AA, sponsorship, and a God she could not yet name reached into the prison she had built around herself.
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Chris shares how drinking began at 11 and followed her through blackouts, self-reliance, family pain, treatment, and the wreckage that finally made AA possible. She talks about treatment as discovery, not recovery; why “putting the plug in the jug” was only the beginning; and how sponsorship, inventory, amends, and carrying the message helped her move from ego and fear into love and God. This is a direct, deeply AA-centered talk about surrender, spiritual awakening, and the simple recovery arithmetic Chris learned: one alcoholic with another alcoholic means God is in the room.
Chris H. from Cleveland, Ohio speaking at the Memphis Group in Cleveland, OH - October 18th 2008
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Adam went through treatment 28 times before a sponsor cut through the badge of honor: it did not make him an alcoholic. It meant he had paid half a million dollars for a Big Book.
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Adam spent 17 years in and around Alcoholics Anonymous, picking up chips, coming to meetings drunk, cycling through treatment centers, and still not understanding why alcohol was not really his problem. In this sharp, funny AA talk, he breaks down the difference between the fellowship and the program, the problem drinker and the real alcoholic, and the outer wreckage versus the inner spiritual condition that kept taking him back. Once a sponsor took him through the Big Book and into action, Adam found the missing link in inventory, service, sponsorship, and carrying the message to another alcoholic.
Adam T. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at Recovery On The Rock in Hamilton, Bermuda - November 28th 2014Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

Peter opens with silence, then challenges the room with a hard question: are we actually feeding the spirit, or just giving God a quick check-in on the way out the door?
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Peter M. shares a workshop-style talk on Steps 10, 11, and 12, starting with the discomfort of silence and moving into the daily disciplines that keep recovery alive. He talks about spot-check inventory, making amends quickly, writing at night, prayer and meditation on awakening, and the danger of calling it “maintenance” when the program is meant to keep growing. From there, Peter pushes into sponsorship, bridge-building, unapologetic God language, and the lost art of the 12-step call, reminding listeners that recovered people know the way in, know the way out, and are trusted to go where the sick and suffering still are.
Peter M. from Boca Raton, FL speaking on steps 10, 11 and 12 at the All Our Affairs group in Toronto, Canada - July 7th 2012Music: Deep by KaizanBlu